NASA managers, in contributing to the disaster. According to the book Comm Check... by William Harwood and Michael Cabbage, some engineers were concerned that the foam strike on the left wing, clearly captured by video recorded during the launch, had caused more damage than initially thought. Based on computer modeling later proven inadequate, Ham's belief was that the damage was not serious and would at most merely lengthen the time necessary to refurbish Columbia between missions. Ham denied requests for high-resolution imaging of the shuttle based on her belief that the damage was too minor to be of consequence. Former flight director Wayne Hale worked outside proper NASA channels in an effort to get imaging of the damage, even though Ham had authority over this decision. In the aftermath of the mishap, Hale was promoted to Space Shuttle Program Manager and then on to NASA headquarters and Ham was demoted. Ham's on-the-job persona was reported to be somewhat brusque and she was perceived by some below her in the chain of command as being less than willing to embrace dissenting points of view. This was part of a larger cultural problem within NASA which was addressed at length by the CAIB. Even if the hole in the left wing had been discovered immediately, according to flight director LeRoy Cain, there were few if any realistic options to either circumvent the damage or launch a rescue mission, though some options were worked out later. One option was detailed in Appendix D-13 of the Report of CAIB, which implied to put Columbia crew in low rate of activity to save consumables while the Atlantis Shuttle was launched. Aftermath of Columbia investigation On July 3, 2003, NASA's new Space Shuttle program manager, William Parsons, reassigned three senior engineers who had been involved in the Columbia disaster, including Ham. NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe took the opportunity to praise Ham publicly, saying that the reassignment was "no reflection, in my judgment, on the competence or diligence or commitment or professionalism of anybody...." According to The Washington Post, "O'Keefe said she is so talented there is going to be a 'bidding war' for her among NASA facilities". Ham's new position was as assistant to Frank Benz, director of engineering at the Johnson Space Center. In December 2003, she served as executive liaison from NASA to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, where she worked